Re: object/boundary object

From: MnFamilyMan@aol.com
Date: Mon Jul 08 2002 - 11:38:04 PDT


In a message dated 7/7/2002 8:54:15 PM Central Daylight Time,
vygotsky@charter.net writes:

> Thus nursing administrators
> create classification systems which serve hospital administrators and
> nursing scientists; soil scientists create classifications of soil to
> satisfy geologists and botanists (Chatelin, 1979). Other outcomes of
> these meetings are explored as well - the dominance of one over another;
> how claims of authority may be manipulated to higher claims of naturalness.
>
> The processes by which communities of practice manage divergent and
> conflicting classification systems are complex, the more so as people
> are all members in fact of many communities of practice, with varying
> levels of commitment and consequence.

This particular quote is a good example of the problem with replacing
individual with agency. When defining occurrances for the 'scientist' and
then only discussing these occurances using 'scientific' terms there is a
false positive that occurs as when using DNA evidence for proving a defendant
guilty. Because the evidence points to the fact that a defendant can't be
ruled out then the defendant must be guilty. Because the layperson can't
engage in the 'scientific' discourse they must not know what they are talking
about.

I admit that this is the greatest frustration I find with Jay's posts [I only
signal him out because it does appear to me he is making a conscious decison
to egnore my psots] is that he writes on and on and on using the 'correct'
terms and yet I can't really get at what he is trying to say. I ask
questions of his terms and his ideas but since my questions aren't written
correctly or maybe even because I have posted so many posts he finds to be
trivial he deletes them. My frustration must be felt by others on XMCA and
of course not only directed towards Jay but perhaps myself as well for in my
efforts to be taken seriously I have adopted some of the lingo:)

Sociocultural psychology is a direct response to the individual psychology so
prevelant in practice today but there is no reason to deny the formation of
individual personalities merely because there is a push for including
cultural influences maybe what is necessary is a need to balance individual
freedoms with cultural responsibilities.

eric



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